Croatia’s recent accession to the European Union as its 28th member was hailed as a triumph for the former war-torn state. Its success was testament to its government’s communications skills in creating an ultimately winning ‘hearts and minds’ PR campaign.

The odds were heavily stacked against Croatia's successful admission. A backdrop of ongoing economic problems in the country and the wider Euro zone meant that reporting on the EU was dominated by its economic woes. This negative media coverage, and the perceived instability of members like Spain and Portugal, threatened to undermine support for Croatia’s membership.

It was against this backdrop that Salience Insight used our experience of measuring government communications to undertake an independent study of Croatia’s situation. Our objective was to track regional and international reporting of the country’s planned accession to assess how the resulting intelligence might have been used to influence media and public opinion. (Please note that we were not acting for Croatia and made no assumptions about whether or not its government relied on media measurement.)

In meeting our ‘brief’, we set ourselves a clear requirement to obtain and marry accurate current and historical information in:

Multiple languages: Cross-EU, with a focus on the Balkans and Western Europe

Our study also sought to establish the relationship between the EU’s key growth strategy messages and those the European and international media ascribed to it. Further, we sought to identify a correlation—or disconnect—between public opinion, media representation, and public communications surrounding Croatia’s accession.

Results: Croatia's messages and their impact

The Croatian and EU communications platform was based on a three-pronged approach to ‘sell’ Croatia’s membership:

The desirability of further EU expansion

The socio-economic benefits of membership outweighed the pitfalls

The EU’s underlying strength

Our evidence seemed to validate this communications strategy, revealing strong public support, positive political rhetoric and media sentiment, and the successful positioning of Croatia’s accession as an indication of the EU’s strength.

Among the most interesting findings were the highly contrasting attitudes to EU membership between Spain and Croatia. To my mind, these demonstrate that media analysis and evaluation in government communications is key, because while media monitoring can tell you what’s being said, only media measurement can tell you how.

Contrasting Croatia and Spain

The planning of Croatia’s accession coincided with European media reports of growing Spanish disenchantment with the EU. When Spain joined in 1986, its population viewed membership positively. The economic difficulties that had followed years of dictatorial rule made the country desperate for change.

As an EU member state, Spain secured large-scale investment over a 25-year period. The evidence is everywhere: In the country’s highly-developed coastlines, new transport infrastructure, and school-building programmes.

But in 2008, the Spanish government met with negative public opinion as it forced through austerity measures to secure its position as an EU member. Interestingly, this coincided with the Croatian government taking austerity measures to secure its own accession.

So while both countries simultaneously had to endure five years of EU-driven belt-tightening, our research showed that the similarities ended there. Croatians appeared to buy into government and EU assurances that there was light at the end of the tunnel, but the Spanish were less optimistic after living the EU dream for a generation. Their leadership’s effort to convince them seem to have fallen on deaf ears (please refer to the chart below).

Lessons for governments, their communications teams, and PR advisers

What lessons can governments, their communications teams and PR advisers take from this?

With insightful and actionable data at their disposal, governments can direct and enhance the efforts of their communications advisers to maximum effect. And the results can be spectacular.

Having successfully got over the EU finishing line against seemingly insurmountable odds, Croatia has now paved the way to receive billions in inward investment. This progress is all the more impressive as it comes less than 20 years after the end of a war of independence which devastated up to 25 percent of its economy and cost it an estimated US $37 billion in damaged infrastructure and refugee-related costs.

In-Depth Analysis

In the past year, the four most frequent phrases associated with Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s Prime Minister and the EU, were: ‘save money’; ‘double dip recession’; ‘economic growth’; and ‘unemployment rate’. By contrast, Croatia President Ivo Josipovic used the accession to look forward and paint the EU as a positive and stabilising force. His most frequently used phrases when discussing the EU were ‘Balkans’; ‘membership’; ‘move closer’; and ‘regional ties’. Not a mention of "euro" anywhere.The most common words used in all online media coverage of Spain in relation to the EU in the first half of 2013 included ‘tax’, ‘jobs’, and ‘years’, further evidence of Mariano Rajoy’s inability to promote more positive EU messages to his electorate.While online EU-related reports of Croatia during the same period prominently highlighted ‘economic crisis’, this was set in a context that the Croatian public clearly found more digestible; ‘(end of) war’, ‘peace’, ‘border’ and, crucially, ‘Balkans’ were all to the fore.

###

Giselle Bodie is the global CEO of Salience Insight, the media analysis and evaluation division of News Group International. She has a 20-year track record of leading and managing large and small companies in the media intelligence industry.

The Measurement Standard is a publication of Salience Insight. Salience Insight is the media measurement division of News Group International – a global provider of business intelligence and media resource services. Salience is a fresh, new global brand which incorporates the former UK-based Report International and US-based KDPaine & Partners, acquired in 2012.

Infographic: What Is Content PR?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451658a69e2017ee85c2c04970d2013-02-09T07:59:20-05:002013-02-11T10:27:26-05:00Earlier this week we posted links to stats that demonstrate content marketing's effectiveness, and also a guide to starting a content marketing blog. Today, for your content marketing / public relations pleasure, we have an infographic that contrasts traditional PR...Queen of Measurement

Today, for your content marketing / public relations pleasure, we have an infographic that contrasts traditional PR with content PR. (Click on the image to see it full sized.) It comes from Calysto, by way of Measurement Matters' weekly PR and Social Media Cheat Sheet. The Cheat Sheet is a weekly list of a handful of must-read PR and social media stories, and we highly recommend it. -- Bill Paarlberg, editor

Why You Should Start Thinking Like a Publisher: 24 Stats On Content Marketing Effectivenesstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451658a69e2017ee84d89bb970d2013-02-07T08:33:51-05:002013-02-07T08:41:00-05:00This article from PR Daily comes with a image I could not resist, and a headline that appears to be missing a word: "24 Stats That Prove The Power Brand Journalism." Nonetheless, it includes many stats about how great content...Queen of Measurement

This article from PR Daily comes with a image I could not resist, and a headline that appears to be missing a word: "24 Stats That Prove The Power Brand Journalism." Nonetheless, it includes many stats about how great content marketing is.

We've been doing CM here at The Measurement Standard for 20 years, and I can tell you that it has been tremendously effective in generating leads. The article provides plenty more proof of its effectiveness, including:

#1. Eighty percent of business decision-makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement. #12. Seventy percent of consumers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than ads. #23. Per dollar, content marketing produces roughly three times as many leads.

Take the Measurement Agenda 2020 Survey on the Future of Public Relations Research & Measurementtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451658a69e201543264056a970c2011-05-18T17:10:00-04:002011-05-18T17:10:00-04:00Here's your chance to help shape the future of measurement. You are invited to participate in Measurement Agenda 2020 (see below) by taking this survey on the Future of Public Relations Research & Measurement. Do it right now, because the...Queen of Measurement

The Institute for Public Relations (IPR) is partnering with the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) on the European Summit on Measurement in Lisbon June 8-10. (That's AMEC Director David Rockland in the photo.)

One important set of discussions at the3rd European Summit on Measurement in Lisbon will be presentation and discussion of the results of a global survey amongst PR and communications professionals about the future of public relations research, measurement, and evaluation. The findings will be discussed at a plenary session at the conference, and used to shape the future agenda for PR research, measurement, and evaluation. The result will be Measurement Agenda 2020, a series of measures to establish the value of public relations to CEOs and Finance Directors who do not know how to put a proper value on their PR spend internationally.

PR professionals with an interest in research, measurement, and evaluation are invited to take part by completing the survey via this survey link. Full results will also be shared when they are announced in Lisbon on Thursday 9th June. The deadline for completing the survey is June 1.

Today's NYTimes Misses the Point about Social Media Monitoring: Is Protection and Compliance Really the Purpose?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451658a69e20133f5de593a970b2010-11-15T07:08:22-05:002010-11-15T07:08:22-05:00Normally I'm all gaga about articles in the New York Times that relate to public relations measurement or social media measurement. So I was excited to read “Tools to Help Companies Manage Their Social Media” in today's paper. But now...Queen of Measurement

The article talks about social media monitoring as if it is only something that must be done to comply with regulations, or protect against lawsuits. As if monitoring is only useful as a defensive tool to “mitigate the leaking of secret information and any damage to the brand.”

Geeze.

Where's the engaging with customers and stakeholders? Where's the whole concept of using social media to improve one’s products and reputation? To understand and learn from one's actions and results to improve one's programs? To understand and learn from one's stakeholders to better chart the future course of a company?

Hey, maybe I'm missing something. Maybe there is a huge market for monitoring social media as compliance or protection? Maybe that market is much more important than the relatively touchy-feeling social media measurement that measurement wonks usually talk about?

--Bill Paarlberg, Editor, The Measurement StandardThe Measurement Standard is a publication ofKDPaine & Partners, a company that delivers custom research to measure brand image, public relationships, and engagement.

Jim & Lauri Grunig’s Lecture at PRSA International 10/17/10tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451658a69e201348881520a970c2010-10-27T09:39:40-04:002010-10-27T09:39:40-04:00The Institute for Public Relations, PRSA, and the University of Maryland hosted the PRSA International Conference on 10/17/10 in Washington DC. At this conference the Third Annual Grunig Lecture was given by, yes, Drs. Jim and Lauri Grunig and entitled:...Queen of Measurement

As many of you know, Jim and Lauri Grunig are developers of the Excellence Study and its principles for excellent PR, which they explain and elaborate on in this lecture. They are strong proponents of relationships as the foundation of public relations, and have developed techniques to measure relationships as a way to measure the effectiveness of public relationships. (Their work forms the foundation of much of Katie Paine's book Measuring Public Relationships, and also her new book due out next spring from Wiley Press Measure What Matters.)

The Grunig Two-Way Symmetrical Model of Public Relations: A Bibliographytag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451658a69e20133ee513e23970b2010-05-24T11:36:04-04:002013-01-08T13:37:59-05:00Recently I wrote to Jim Grunig to clarify a reference to his two-way symmetrical model of public relations. I had seen several different references to it and was confused about which to cite. In his usual genial and comprehensive manner...Queen of Measurement

Recently I wrote to Jim Grunig to clarify a reference to his two-way symmetrical model of public relations. I had seen several different references to it and was confused about which to cite. In his usual genial and comprehensive manner he took the time to write back with an extensive bibliography. So I thought I'd pass it along.

As many of you will recall from PR 101, the two-way symmetrical model is part of the Grunig four-model theory of public relations practice. Since its introduction in 1984 (see below) the four-model theory of how PR has, does, and should work has grown in acceptance to become the basis of the practice, measurement, and ethics of modern PR. It is a tribute to the robustness of this model that social media fits right in. (Depending on how social media is used, as Jim points out: See "Jim Grunig on social media, 'the latest fad in public relations.'")

Public Relations Measurement: Creative Destruction, but Without the Disastertag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451658a69e20120a5361bce970c2009-08-10T07:33:28-04:002009-08-10T07:36:09-04:00As usual, I was reading the NY Times this morning, and came across Eric Zencey's editorial about the GDP and creative destruction. And I was thinking about the idea of creative destruction, and how bad times can and do tend...Queen of Measurement

As usual, I was reading the NY Times this morning, and came across Eric Zencey's editorial about the GDP and creative destruction. And I was thinking about the idea of creative destruction, and how bad times can and do tend to prune away old, outmoded or inefficient systems. And then I was thinking about public relations measurement: Doesn't measurement often function like creative destruction?

Public relations research and measurement is a way to determine what is working and what isn't. It can help you prune away inefficiencies. And it can achieve much the same ends as the creative destruction that comes with a disaster. But you don't need the disaster to force the changes.

(Of course, sometimes it is easier to wait for a disaster than it is to force yourself to do measurement. I'll bet some people think doing measurement is a disaster.) -- Bill Paarlberg

MetricsMan: "Public Relations Measurement 2010: Five Things to Forget & Five Things to Learn"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451658a69e201157162107c970c2009-08-03T12:45:41-04:002009-08-03T12:45:41-04:00Great overview of where public relations measurement is at from Don Bartholomew on the MetricsMan blog.Queen of Measurement

What Happens When Public Relations Measurement Provides Unwanted Results?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451658a69e201157222f73f970b2009-07-22T08:03:57-04:002009-07-22T09:55:46-04:00pr measurement, public relations measurementQueen of Measurement

Back in March, this blog ran a three-post series on the subject of office politics and public relations measurement: Why should we go to the effort of doing proper public relations research if we know our results are going to be buried or distorted?

So it was very interesting to find this article in yesterday's NYTimes, U.S. Withheld Data on Risks of Distracted Driving. Apparently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was pressured -- or felt pressured -- to not publish research about the dangers of using cell phones while driving:

"The former head of the highway safety agency said he was urged to withhold the research to avoid antagonizing members of Congress who had warned the agency to stick to its mission of gathering safety data but not to lobby states.Critics say that rationale and the failure of the Transportation Department, which oversees the highway agency, to more vigorously pursue distracted driving has cost lives and allowed to blossom a culture of behind-the-wheel multitasking."

Our point here is not to wax all righteous about the pitfalls of government-funded research, but to point out, once again, that public relations measurement is only as good as what people do with it. If you do good measurement and nobody wants to hear the results, is it still good measurement?

The public relations measurement industry often laments that people don't measure enough: Not enough budget or time or expertise. Well here's another idea: Maybe they don't measure because they feel sure the news will be unpleasant, and they don't want to hear -- or deal -- with it. --Bill Paarlberg

Six Defining Characteristics of the Successful Public Relations Professional of the Next Decadetag:typepad.com,2003:post-589780382008-11-24T11:16:18-05:002008-11-24T11:16:18-05:00The Future of Public Relations Measurement PR Stars of the Future by Katie Delahaye Paine I had a great lunch with Tom Nicholson, Executive Director of the Arthur W Page Society, recently and, like most people these days, we talked...Queen of Measurement

Tom speculates
that, in another decade, the job of PR within the corporate
environment will either be seen as more important than legal,
finance and facilities combined, or else it will be as irrelevant
as one
of my old jobs now is: making sure the 35 mm slides showed up on
time for the Sales Meeting
presentations. (Yes,
I'm
old enough to have actually produced 35 mm slide presentations!)

He's
right. I think that, ten years from now, many people currently
occupying the office of Public Affairs, Public Relations,
and/or Media
Relations will find the new world order just too weird,
too strange and too out of control. For those people -- who grew
up thinking
they
could control the message, manage the media, and spin their way out
of a crisis --
this new environment will ultimately be overwhelming,
and they'll retire to their eBay businesses, their consultancies,
or their organic goat farms.

For the
others, adapting will be a rough but ultimately healthy transition,
involving a lot of confrontations and personal emotional battles.
For still others, they will be (and are right now) growing up amidst the new
world order, and they might not notice the transition. (Or, they
will be dealing with their own transitions that we can't yet predict.)

At any
rate, the public relations environment of a decade from now will
require talents and personality traits somewhat different from today.
Here are six characteristics of the PR Stars of the Future:

1. They'll
know that it
is all about relationships.
A PR person
who approaches the market from a relationships standpoint will win.
They'll understand that the market is a conversation, and that building
and
maintaining healthy relationships is the foundation of any strategy.

2. They'll
make decisions
based on data, not gut feelings.
Yes
the gut will still be a powerful tool, but in an environment that
morphs faster than you can say "Utterli, Seesmic, Plurk, and Twittergrader,"
the gut will
be a very difficult thing to read and rely upon.

3. They'll listen
first, listen more, and listen more carefully than
did any of their predecessors.
They'll constantly keep an ear to the
ground, listening to every whisper of what the customers,
media, influencers, analysts, employees, neighbors, and community
are saying. They spend at least as much on listening as they
do
on shouting.

4. They'll
design programs, strategies, and messages around the needs
and perceptions of the target audience.
Not around the
product features, or the whims of a boss.

5. They'll value
truth and transparency above all; there will be
no secrets in this new era.
Anyone can fact check anything and probably
will.

6. They'll stand
up for their ethics and values.
If asked to
lie, to obfuscate, or to conceal, the successful PR person of the
future will quit.

Recent Public Relations Research Sets Up Conflict Between PR Professionals And The Old School Bottom Linetag:typepad.com,2003:post-395103422007-09-28T11:11:38-04:002007-09-28T11:11:38-04:00The Paine of Measurement The Old Bottom Line Collides with the New Public Relations New public relations research -- old corporate mindset. Rumor has it that there is an ancient Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.* If "interesting"...Queen of Measurement
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><img src="http://www.themeasurementstandard.com/Images/katietallintapesm.gif" width="44" height="100" border="0" align="top"></strong></font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>The
Paine of Measurement</strong></font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></font></p>
<p><strong> <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font size="4">The
Old Bottom Line Collides with the New Public Relations</font><em><font size="3"><br>
</font></em><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="3"><em><font color="#000000">New
public relations research -- old corporate mindset.</font></em></font></font><font color="#000000" size="3"><em> </em></font></strong></font></strong></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Rumor
has it that there is an ancient Chinese curse: <em>May
you live in interesting times</em>.* If &quot;interesting&quot; can
be translated as &quot;full
of conflict,&quot; then there is no doubt that modern Western business
is now feeling the full effect of this curse. PR people in board rooms
all over are headed for a confrontation that
makes recent skirmishes
between presidential candidates look like scuffles in the proverbial
sandbox.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> For years,
the vast majority of organizations have been driven by a single bottom
line, profit. This was relatively easy to calculate. You
added up what it cost to make something, plus a bit extra for administration
and overhead, then subtracted that from what
you charged the customer and
you had your bottom line. </font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> But life
in the 21st Century is anything but simple. Recent research has demonstrated
that the old bottom line is not the whole story. First we found out
that the way to make bigger profits is to have more loyal employees,
and that we have
to
do good deeds to gain employee loyalty. Then
we found out that <a href="http://www.watsonwyatt.com/research/resrender.asp?id=w-868&page=1" target="_blank">good
communications is a leading indicator of an organization's financial
performance</a>.
</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> And now,
most recently, Brad Rawlins has demonstrated that in order to best
win the trust of our employees, we have to open our kimono to the
world
and
be completely
transparent. (See the article in this issue, and <a href="http://kdpaine.blogs.com/kdpaines_pr_m/2007/09/more-from-barra.html" target="_blank">my
blog post</a>.)</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> So here's
the conflict: Today's diligent and capable PR person walks into
the board room urging better communications, more transparency and
open, honest conversations with stakeholders. But the
room is full of Machiavellian power brokers who believe in secrecy,
stonewalling and the single
bottom line. This old-fashioned corporate mindset still insists that
the only reason to do something is because it makes money or gains
a
competitive
advantage. </font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">We now
know that such an approach is outdated, and those who are stuck
on it will
soon find their businesses as dead as the dinosaurs they resemble.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> The reality
is that good communications <em>does</em> make money, it just doesn't
do it quite as simply and directly as the old bottom line arithmetic
implies. Openness and transparency translate into money saved in
legal bills, into
efficiency
gains because
information is more readily available, into lower turnover rates and
higher customer loyalty. If trust has a value, transparency is its
currency in today's marketplace. </font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Wishing
you large measures of success,</font></p>
<p align="center"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="http://www.themeasurementstandard.com/Images/KDPaineSig.gif" width="149" height="83"></font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">* It <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_you_live_in_interesting_times" target="_blank">is
supposedly</a> the first of three curses, each escalating in severity.
The other two are: <em>May you come to the attention of those in
authority</em>, and, <em>May you find what you are looking for</em>.</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Isn't
it wonderfully paradoxical that those curses are so similar to the
job descriptions of most American PR people, and to the results they
typically strive for: crisis control, the attention of those above
you, and news? And these curses, mind you, are part of the social
heritage of the largest, fastest growing and probably soon-to-be-most-powerful
society on earth.</font></p></div>
Jim Grunig: Research is Key to a Seat at the Tabletag:typepad.com,2003:post-315976222007-03-13T15:44:51-04:002007-03-13T15:44:51-04:00This article was published in our Feb 8 issue LETTER FROM THE EXPERT Research: Key to a Seat at the Table Jim Grunig shares evidence for the strong correlation between use of research and a strategic role for PR. Studies...Queen of Measurement
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This article was published in our Feb 8 issue</strong></font><font color="#666666" size="1" face="Verdana"><br>
<font color="#993333" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">LETTER
FROM THE EXPERT</font><b><strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
</font></strong></b></font><strong><font color="#333333" size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.themeasurementstandard.com/issues/1-2-07/grunigresearch1-2-07.asp"><img src="http://www.themeasurementstandard.com/Images/jimgrunig.jpg" width="54" height="60" border="0" align="left">Research:
Key to a Seat at the Table</a><br>
<em> <font size="2">Jim Grunig shares evidence for the strong correlation
between use
of research and a strategic role for PR.<br>
</font></em></font></strong><font color="#333333" size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Studies
are beginning to show that research is the answer to the question
of how public relations can get a seat at the table,
become more strategic, and serve a counseling rather than a messaging
role.</font><font size="1">..</div>